


Warmth

by thisplace_ishaunted



Series: Chris/Ricky High School AU [3]
Category: Motionless in White (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Cute, Fingerless Gloves, First Kiss, Friends to Lovers, Light Angst, M/M, Pumpkin Spice Lattes, Romantic Fluff, and circa 2004 puffy skater sneakers, autumn vibes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:28:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26888134
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisplace_ishaunted/pseuds/thisplace_ishaunted
Summary: It wasn’t awkward, it wasn’t forced, it was just the two of them and their friendship and the nearly-set sun casting shadows into the pumpkin patch.Or, in other words, Ricky is working at the community pumpkin patch and Chris likes to bother him during his shifts.
Relationships: Chris "Motionless" Cerulli/Ricky "Horror" Olson
Series: Chris/Ricky High School AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1904458
Comments: 7
Kudos: 15





	Warmth

**Author's Note:**

> "There are three things I've learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin."
> 
> Working Title: HEY! YOU TWO SHOULD KISS! (from asdf)
> 
> Set 2004, during Chris and Ricky's senior year of high school. They are the same age in this and attend a private boy's Catholic school.
> 
> Happy October, everyone. I decided to write this super cute first kiss oneshot for my angsty highschool BFFs. This is very much so based upon the pumpkin patch I visited as a child, and that is what I am picturing in my head for this. The only difference being that we still have summer temperatures until approximately December here. Haha I had to imagine what it would be like for it actually to be cold in October.
> 
> I hope yall enjoy. It's supposed to be awkward as hell.

Mounds of orange and red crunchy leaves piled themselves at the bases of the trees that lined the lot of the community Pumpkin Patch. If it were to rain any time soon, the leaves would turn to muck and begin to decompose, leaving muddy puddles of slime throughout the yard. Until then, though, the leaves stayed dry and were occasionally swept up in the wind. As much fun as it was to kick around in these piles of leaves, Ricky knew that is where the spiders and snakes liked to live. The children that visited the patch with their families, on the other hand, were dumb and liked to jump into the piles like some kind of Hallmark movie. Ricky waited for the day that a kid got bit by something and he hoped the parents wouldn’t give him shit for their stupid kids.  
Ricky had began working at the pumpkin patch partway through September. He usually worked a couple days a week after school, until the patch closed at sundown. The closer that Halloween came, the sooner the sun would set, and the wind would pick up. He really had no interest in counting cash, sorting pumpkins, and yelling at the children not to run, but the few bucks he made an hour would add up by the end of the season. Maybe he would buy a new pedal setup for his guitar. The idea of some extra spending money made the evenings spent in the patch worth it.  
Wherever Ricky was, Chris had to also be. Chris had made it a habit to hang out at the patch with Ricky during his shift. Well, partially hang out, but mainly bother. The time seemed to go faster when they could banter back and forth about their classmates at school or their plans for making it to the end of the school year. The people that ran the pumpkin patch did not seem to care that Ricky kept a friend around during his shift, as long as he collected the correct amount for each transaction and kept the place clean and tidy.  
Since Ricky did not have a car, Chris would often drive him home at the end of the night so he did not have to walk home in the cold. Ricky was more than thankful for this after the long days at school and shifts at the patch.  
This particular day was overcast, dim and grey, but the clouds did not seem heavy enough to fall as rain. The clouds had kept patrons away from the patch for the evening, and Ricky only saw a handful of groups visit; now it was nearing the end of his shift and the routine boredom had set in.  
Chris had to return home after school, see that his siblings were home from school and settled before his mom got home from work for the day. Just as quick as she arrived home, Chris was out the door and back into his van, headed to the patch to hang out with Ricky.  
The sun had began to set, small bits of golden light peaking through the grey clouds. Ricky sat at the picnic table where he spent most of his shift, a calculator and metal cashbox sitting at the table with him. Ricky’s striped gloves peaked out from the wrists of his sweatshirt. He had learned that the gloves were necessary as the warmth of the sun faded during his shift. As the colder months of the year approached, he and Ricky were hardly ever seen without their trusted hoodies.  
Coming up behind his back, Ricky could hear the mechanical grumble of Chris’ van pull up the drive. Chris haphazardly pulled into a spot of the gravel parking lot, and hopped out of the driver’s side, huge paper coffee cups in each hand. Ricky looked over at him, as he waved the coffee cups excitedly and made a stupid looking grin of excitement.  
Chris had changed from his uniform after school, and was now sporting some slouchy jeans, puffy skater sneakers, and his black hoodie pulled over his head. He walked over to the picnic table, announcing, “I got us drinks at the drive through!”  
Ricky took one from his hand, the heat of the cup making its way through the palm of Ricky’s glove and warming him a bit. He took a careful sip, checking the temperature before committing to a gulp of the drink: something sweet, foamy and delicious.  
“I got us some sort of sugary pumpkin thing. I’m not totally sure, all those fancy coffee words sound the same to me.” Chris chuckled, sitting himself across from Ricky and taking a similar sip of his own drink.  
“Thank you. I expected you, but not the drink, so this is a nice surprise.” Ricky smiled, the piercings in his lip stretching outward.  
“No problem, I know it has been getting colder out here,” Chris pulled his own sleeves down over his palms. The two of them held their cups on the table, toying them between their hands and leaning slightly forward. They had felt more drawn to one another over the past few weeks. It had begun feeling less weird and more intimate when their hands brushed each other at school, or when their eye contact during a conversation held for more than just a moment.  
Ricky watched as Chris tongued and chewed at one of the rings in his lip. Their matching piercings had gotten them negative attention at school, even further ostracizing them from their peers. With the boys being in their senior year, the administration had given up trying to punish them for the dress code violation, and instead had just let them be.  
Ricky had caught himself watching Chris’ mouth more recently; it’s like his eyes didn’t have another place to rest, so instead he just watched the bottom half of Chris’ face. Chris took another sip of his drink, licking his lip afterwards to catch a bit of foam that had gone astray.  
“How much longer do you think they will be here?” Chris moved his head, motioning to the mother and two young children that were wandering through the isles between the pumpkins.  
“Hopefully not long, I’m tired from school.” What Ricky wouldn’t say is that he didn’t really mind how long he would have to stay at the patch. If Chris was here with him, especially with a nice warm drink, he would stay here for hours. He could chat with Chris and stare at his mouth forever, even after the sun went down and the chill in the wind picked up and they were both shivering in their black hoodies. Maybe they could find the warmth they would need in one other.  
Almost as if the family could hear their discussion, the two children each picked out a respective pumpkin, and started heading towards Ricky and his picnic table.  
“I’ll let you help them,” Chris said as he stood up from the table, taking his drink with him and walking away to wander amongst the pumpkins.  
Ricky helped total the family’s pumpkin haul, and collected the cash, locking it into the cashbox. He thanked the family and waved them farewell as they left in their car. He hoped the family hadn’t felt rushed to get out of there, they really could have stayed as long as they liked, but with the sunlight nearly gone, he was sure they had just decided it was time to go home.  
Chris was at the other side of the patch now, near where stacks of rectangular hay bales and some smiling scarecrows were arranged to create a photo background. Ricky started down the row, watching as Chris examined pumpkins and kicked dirt around with his shoe.  
“I think I like the bumpy ones,” Chris stated as Ricky walked up to him. “They’re different, but that doesn’t make them any less cool, ya know?”  
It was definitely a metaphor, and Ricky almost laughed out loud, but he appreciated the sentiment.  
“So do you think I’m a bumpy pumpkin?” Ricky chuckled with the ridiculousness of his question.  
“You’re the bumpiest pumpkin of all of them. Nobody would want to buy you, until I came along and brought you home and sat you on my porch.”  
It was almost too sweet. Ricky smiled shyly, looking down at the space between where the two of them stood.  
Chris turned, and continued down the row, allowing Ricky to walk closely next to him.  
“You don’t actually think I’m unwanted, though, right?” Ricky almost felt embarrassed turning the joke into something serious. The two of them were certified outcasts, but normally it did not bother Ricky because they had one another. Unfortunately, he was occasionally reminded of how lonely he actually would be without Chris.  
“What? No. You know that I like you for you, right? You could have two heads and I would still like you,” Chris reassured him. They had reached the end of the row, and the two of them sat on the hay bales of the photo background.  
“Okay…” Ricky responded, leaning forward and putting his head in his hands, embarrassed of his own insecurity.  
“You are my best friend, Rick. I will always have your back. I come out here almost every day and drive you home from work because I love being around you. I don’t mind doing those things because I actually care about you.” Chris sat his now empty coffee cup to the side, rubbing his hands down the fronts of his pants.  
Chris, although nervously, felt it was finally time to close the gap between them, reaching an arm over Ricky’s back and resting his chin on Ricky’s shoulder. Chris’ right hand brushed up and down Ricky’s upper arm, soothing him.  
“You already know all of this, though,” Chris’ voice lowered to something closer to a whisper. Ricky reached his left hand up, placing it where Chris was rubbing his upper arm, and Chris was quick to allow Ricky’s gloved hand to slide beneath his own.  
Ricky’s usual butterflies were gone in this moment, instead he just felt safe and loved and secure with Chris at his side.  
“You know I like you, Chris,” Ricky said to the ground, the toes of his shoes moving back and forth across the dirt, “Like, _like_ like you.”  
“I know, and I think you know too.” Chris said into his shoulder, planting a soft kiss onto the fleece of Ricky’s jacket. Know what exactly? Chris was not totally sure. Know that their friendship had been more than a friendship for months now? Know that there must be a reason why the two of them wanted to spend every waking moment together, and still even dreamt about the other? Know that the nearly magnetic energy between their bodies and their mouths will eventually be too much to ignore? Maybe it is one or the other, but maybe it was all three.  
Ricky turned his upper body towards Chris, his hand falling into his lap. Chris was biting his lip ring again out of some mixture of habit and nerves. They stared at each other for a moment, their eyes blinking and their exhales coming anxiously out their noses. This was the type of moment that seemed to last centuries, with the hair standing up on their necks like lightning was about to strike.  
It was Ricky that leaned in first, turning his head to the side, and Chris met him halfway. Their mouths found one another and within seconds the nervousness was gone and it felt _right_. This is the moment they had both been considering for months. It wasn’t awkward, it wasn’t forced, it was just the two of them and their friendship and the nearly-set sun casting shadows into the pumpkin patch. They didn’t even care that the hay bales they were sitting on were poking through their jeans as their bodies shifted closer to one another, as they pulled away from their first kiss, took a shuddered breath, and went back in.  
Ricky’s hand came up, finding the side of Chris’ face beneath the side of his hood. Their lips parted as they breathed into their kiss, working at each other’s lips and it took all the energy Chris could gather to not nearly moan into Ricky’s mouth as he felt Ricky’s thumb run over his cheek.  
Ricky broke away, leaning back a bit, and ashamedly turned away from Chris’ face. “I’m sorry,” he blurted out. “That was weird.”  
“No it wasn’t. It’s okay,” Chris didn’t really know what to say. It _was_ weird, but that didn’t make it bad. One of them was fixing to combust sooner or later if they had not eventually kissed; it was bound to happen. It felt safe and it felt right and that is all that really mattered.  
Ricky didn’t respond, still overwhelmed and his mind in too many places at once.  
“Do you want me to take you home now?” Chris stood up, brushing the hay off of the back of his jeans.  
“Yes, I think so.” Ricky stood and did the same, grabbing Chris’ empty coffee cup from where he had set it aside.  
The two of them walked back down the isle of pumpkins, the bumpy ones sticking out amongst the piles of others. It was only a few steps into their walk back to the other side of the patch that Ricky bumped his hand into the back of Chris’, and Chris took it in his own. With Chris’ hand to hold onto, maybe Ricky wouldn’t need his gloves anymore. Neither of them said anything about their interlocked fingers, but they weren’t really expecting the other to break the silence and interrupt the sound of the wind rustling the leaves in the trees.


End file.
